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Emperor's Cup
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The Emperors Cup All-Japan Soccer Championship Tournament, commonly known as The Emperors Cup or The Emperors Cup Soccer, is a Japanese association football competition. It has the longest tradition of any tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formation of the J. League, Japan Football League and their predecessor. Before World War II, teams could not only from Japan proper but also from Korea, Taiwan. The womens counterpart is the Empresss Cup, the Emperors Cup is one of two well-known national football tournaments named after a monarch. The holder can wear a Yatagarasu emblem and obtains an AFC Champions League spot for the next season, since the creation of the J. League in 1992, the professional teams have dominated the competition, although doubles, once common in the JSL, have become very rare. However, because the Emperors Cup is contested in a tournament format. A major upset almost occurred in the 2003/04 competition, when Funabashi Municipal High School took the 2003 J. League champion Yokohama F. Marinos to a penalty shootout, waseda University was the last non-league winner of the Emperors Cup, in 1966. The 2011 final was the first to be contested by two second tier teams, FC Tokyo and Kyoto Sanga, with FC Tokyo winning 4–2, the knockout phase of the competition begins towards the end of the year. Before 2008,48 teams took part in the first two rounds – the winner from each of the 47 prefectural championships and the collegiate champion, the top team in the JFL standings and all thirteen J2 teams joined in the 3rd round. Finally, the eighteen J1 teams joined in the 4th round, from 1965 to 1970, the top 4 JSL clubs at the end of the season qualified for the Cup and the other four spaces allotted were taken by university finalists. Beginning in 1995, the second tier clubs began to be admitted automatically instead of having to play regional stages, since 2009, all J. League teams started from second round regardless of division. In 2012 running, the JFL top team will start from first round. The original All Japan Championship Tournament trophy was awarded to the JFA by the English Football Association in 1917 and this trophy was used until January 1945, when the militarist government confiscated it and melted down to procure additional metal for the war effort. When the tournament was reinstated, the present trophy, showing the Imperial chrysanthemum seal began to be awarded, in August 2011, the English FA presented its Japanese counterpart with a replica of the original trophy, made by London silversmiths Thomas Lyte. JFA President Junji Ogura expressed hope that the trophy, to be awarded at the 2011 finals, the cup winner is qualified to AFC Champions League since 2001 tournament, where Shimizu S-Pulse qualified to ACL 2002-03. Before the establishment of ACL, the cup winner was to qualified to Asian Cup Winners Cup, from 2012, as a part of the requirement of AFC, the champion team must also hold a J1 Club License in order to enter the ACL. In November 2007, the JFA announced that the ACL2009 spot would be given to the 2008 seasons winner, as a result, the 2007 winner, Kashima Antlers, cannot earn the ACL2009 spot by the championship. If the cup winner was already earned an AFC Champions League spot through finishing above third in J. League Division 1, the spot obtained in the cup will be given to Division 1s fourth placed team